Target with ball shiftably tethered thereto



Aug. 27, 1968 R. G. RAKESTRAW TARGET WITH BALL SHIFTABLY TETHERED THERETO Filed July 11, 1966 5 W W/m .2 1 Z r F Ev. 58 P United States Patent 3,398,955 TARGET WITH BALL SHIFTABLY TETHERED THERETO Robert G. Rakestraw, 304 /2 E. 6th St., Rome, Ga. 30161 Filed July 11, 1966, Ser. No. 564,275 8 Claims. (Cl. 273-98) This invention relates to a new toy and a game which can be played therewith. In particular, the invention is concerned with an improved arrangement for providing a toy which has a ball tethered to an open ended basket which can be set in one of two positions for adjusting the size of the opening through which the ball must pass while playing the game.

Toys are known of the type wherein a ball is attached to a cord or elastic string and to a paddle or small hand-held container which bounces or receives the ball when a single person is manipulating the paddle or the container to bounce the ball back and forth. Such toys have their greatest utility in providing entertainment for a single participant, and are limited to short range back and forth movements of a ball through the air and against the paddle or container which is held by the player.

The present invention provides a toy which can be used in a game played by two or more people, and a relatively large ball is provided with the toy so that the ball may be bounced back and forth between players with an object to placing the ball in a goal or basket which is associated with the toy of this invention. The basket, or goal, is an open ended device having opposite ends of different diameters so that one end or the other may be used in a particular game. Both of the opened ends of the basket are larger than the ball which is bounced back and forth between players, and accordingly, either end of the basket may be used as a receiving end for scoring points in the game. The larger diameter end may be used for beginners and the smaller diameter end may be used to make the game more difficult and to require a greater skill in scoring goals.

The ball is tethered to the goal or basket in a novel manner by means of a cord, which may be elastic. The

novel tethering means includes a device which attaches one end of the cord to the basket and which shifts the position of attachment to a lower end of the basket irrespective of which end is being used as a ball receiving goal. In this manner, the tethering means does not interfere with the goal functions 'of the basket even though it is capable of being placed in one of two opposite positions for receiving a ball.

Other features of this invention will become apparent in the detailed description which follows, and in that description reference will be made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the toy with a smaller end of the basket in an upper ball receiving position;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view with the basket reversed so that the larger end is in a ball receiving position; and

FIGURE 3 is a top plan View of FIGURE 1 showing the tethering means associated with the basket construction.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the toy is illustrated as including a novel basket means 1 which serves as a goal for a game to be played. A ball 2 is tethered to the basket means by a cord 3 which may be elastic or nonelastic, as desired. The cord 3 is connected at its one end to the ball by any suitable fastening device 4, and the 3,398,955 Patented Aug. 27, 1968 ice opposite end of the cord is attached to a tethering means 5 associated with the basket 1.

The basket 1 is illustrated as having a generally tapered configuration so that two opposite ends of varying diameter are formed. The two opposite ends are open and are designed with substantially circular configurations as defined by rings 6 and 7. The opening of the ring 6 is of a smaller diameter than the opening of the ring 7, but both openings are of sizes which are larger than the maximum diameter of the ball 2. The basket may be formed, as illustrated, from two differing diameter rings 6 and 7 fixed in spaced positions from one another to separately define the two sizes of openings. The rings may be spaced from one another by the framing elements 8 which result in an open cage formation for the basket construction. The entire basket may be made of any suitable material such as a metal or plastic material, and the framing elements 8 may be in the form of rods which are welded or otherwise affixed to edges of the rings 6 and 7 so as to form the illustrated device.

Referring also to FIGURE 3, the tethering means 5 for attaching an end of the cord 3 to a portion of the basket is illustrated as including a tethering bar 9 which is connected to opposing framing elements 8 so as to place a divider or cross bar through a central axis of the basket. The tethering bar 9 is formed from a metal or plastic material, and it includes looped ends which embrace opposite framing elements 8 for retaining the tethering bar within the confines of the basket 1. The end loops 10 of the tethering bar are constructed to include elongate openings which will accommodate the positioning of the tethering bar to either end of the basket, depending upon the placement of the basket on a floor or other surface. Thus, as shown in FIGURE 1, the looped portions 10 are long enough to allow the tether bar 9 to fall to the larger diameter end of the basket when the basket is placed in the position shown. On the other hand, when the basket is inverted as shown in FIGURE 2, the looped ends 10 permit a movement of the divider bar 9 down to the smaller end of the basket while still retaining the divider bar in a position within the confines of the basket. In this manner, the basket can be positioned with either of its open ends directed upwardly for receiving the ball, and regardless of the position selected, the divider bar falls to the lower end of the basket and stays out of the Way of the ball being received within the upper end. Additionally, the divider bar may serve as a floor element for supporting the ball in the basket once it has been received therein.

The cord 3 is attached to the tether bar by means of a hook fastener or other similar device 11. The hook fastener is of a conventional construction and includes a spring member for closing the hook once the fastener is snapped into position over the bar 9. With the ball, basket and tethering means all assembled, the device has the appearance of the FIGURE 1 illustration, and the toy is ready for use in a game which can be played by two or more people.

One possible game that can be played would include the placement of players at spaced distances about the basket or goal 1, and the ball would be served by one of the players by bouncing it on the floor toward the basket. Once the ball is in motion, the object would be to have opposing players return it by striking it and attempting to bounce it into the centrally positioned basket. The ball would be bounced back and forth until one of the players succeeds in scoring a goal by bouncing the ball into the upper receiving opening of the basket. When only two players are playing the game they would be placed opposite each other in approximately positions about the circular plane of the basket, and they would take turns at attempting to bounce the ball toward the other player and into the basket. It could be required that no player could catch or throw the ball once the ball is in motion, and of course, other rules could be established for playing the game.

From the above description it can be seen that the novel toy of this invention provides a construction which can be used in recreational activities among a plurality of players. In a typical construction, the larger diameter ring 7 of the basket may be 14" to 15" in diameter while the smaller ring 6 is approximately 12 to 13" in diameter. With this construction a 10 diameter ball could be used, and it will be appreciated that considerable skill is required in bouncing the ball into the small end of such a device. The larger end could be placed in the FIG- URE 2 position until players are acquainted with the game and more skillful in scoring goals and then the basket could be inverted for more advanced players and a more difiicult game. Thus there is provided a toy which lends itself to recreation and which can be adjusted to accommodate varying skills of players who are using the toy. The ball may be of any known construction, such as a hollow or an inflated ball which can be easily bounced, and the cord 3 can be attached to the ball with a separate fastening means or by tying the end of the cord through the material of the ball.

Although the toy has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, various constructions will become apparent to those skilled in the art, and such equivalent constructions are intended to be included within the scope of this invention. For example, the basket may be formed from a solid sheet of material having the tapered configuration illustrated, and the tethering bar 9 may be modified to have only a single loop or more than the two illustrated loops. These and other variations will become obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A toy comprising in combination:

a ball for bouncing back and forth between players;

a cord attached between the ball and a goal into which the ball is to be bounced for scoring points;

a basket which serves as a goal, said basket having openings at opposite ends for receiving said ball when said basket is placed on a horizontal surface with one of said open ends positioned upwardly; and

tethering means connected to said basket for attaching one end of said cord to the basket, said tethering means being connected to the basket so as to be shiftable from one end of the basket to the other, thereby providing for a positioning of said tethering means at a lower end of said basket irrespective of which open end of said basket is directed upwardly.

2. The toy of claim 1 wherein said tethering means further comprises a bar means having end portions for connection to opposite side wall portions of said basket.

3. The toy of claim 2 wherein said basket comprises two ring members spaced apart from one another to form said openings at opposite ends of the basket and including framing members connected between said ring members to form a body for said basket.

4. The toy of claim 3 wherein said tethering bar means includes loops formed at its ends for encircling certain of the framing members of said basket.

5. The toy of claim 4 wherein said ring members are of dilferent diameters, thereby forming a basket having 4 a larger opening at its one'end than at its opposite end, and wherein said loops of said tethering bar are elongate in form to permit shifting movement of the tethering bar from one end of said basket to the other.

6. A toy comprising in combination:

a ball for bouncing back and forth between players;

a cord means attached between the ball and a goal into which the ball is bounced for scoring points;

a basket which functions as said goal, k said basket having ball receiving openings at its opposite ends, and each of said openings being substantially circular in cross-section but with each opening having a different diameter from the other, whereby two sizes of ball receiving openings are formed in said basket for adjusting the skill requirements in scoring goals with said toy; and

a tethering means connected to said basket for attaching one end of said cord to the basket, said tethering means being shiftable in its connection to said basket so that the cord attachment will be shifted to a lower end of said basket irrespective of which end of said basket is directed upwardly.

7. A toy comprising in combination:

a ball for bouncing back and forth between players;

a cord means attached between the ball and a goal into which the ball is bounced for scoring points;

a basket which functions as said goal, said basket having ball receiving openings at its opposite ends, and each of said openings bein substantially circular in cross-section but with each opening having a different diameter from the other, whereby two sizes of ball receiving openings are formed in said basket for adjusting the skill requirements in scoring goals with said toy; and

a tethering means connected to said basket for attaching one end of said cord to the basket, said tethering means being connected through a cross-section of said basket so as to provide a limit to the travel of said ball through said basket after the ball has been received in one of said openings.

8. The toy means of claim 6 wherein said openings are formed by two sizes of ring :members spaced apart from each other and held in fixed positions relative to each other by framing members connected between said ring members, and wherein said tethering means includes an elongate loop portion for embracing a frame member and for providing a shifting movement for said tethering means from one end of the basket to the other..

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 971,470 9/1910 Peall 27398 2,243,620 5/1941 Fernandez 27395 2,437,454 3/1948 Bergerioux 27398 2,497,925 2/ 1950 Bergerioux 27398 X 2,570,860 10/1951 Redding 27398 2,865,636 12/1958 Blackmun 27398 X 3,012,781 12/1961 Nelson 2731.5 3,023,001 2/ 1962 Gourdouze 27398 X 3,050,305 8/1962 Bachand 2731.5 3,126,204 3/1964 Devlin 27398 ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner.

M. R. PAGE, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A TOY COMPRISING IN COMBINATION: A BALL FOR BOUNCING BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN PLAYERS; A CORD ATTACHED BETWEEN THE BALL AND A GOAL INTO WHICH THE BALL IS TO BE BOUNCED FOR SCORING POINTS; A BASKET WHICH SERVES AS A GOAL, SAID BASKET HAVING OPENINGS AT OPPOSITE ENDS FOR RECEIVING SAID BALL WHEN SAID BASKET IS PLACED ON A HORIZONTAL SURFACE WITH ONE OF SAID OPEN ENDS POSITIONED UPWARDLY; AND TETHERING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID BASKET FOR ATTACHING ONE END OF SAID CORD TO THE BASKET, SAID TETHERING MEANS BEING CONNECTED TO THE BASKET SO AS TO BE SHIFTABLE FROM ONE END OF THE BASKET TO THE OTHER, THEREBY PROVIDING FOR A POSITIONING OF SAID TETHERING MEANS AT A LOWER END OF SAID BASKET IRRESPECTIVE OF WHICH OPEN END OF SAID BASKET IS DIRECTED UPWARDLY. 